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Remember when folks wanted the conversation about new Clarksville retail development to switch from Exit 4 to Exit 11?

It looks like that's happening ... at least for the moment.

Drive out to the stretch between the Madison Street intersection with the state Highway 76 Connector, and Exit 11, and you'll see where much of Clarksville's most significant commercial construction is happening.

The Sango Square shopping center to be anchored by Clarksville's third Publix is taking shape, with additional restaurant and retail tenants to be announced. And around it, particularly on Fire Station Road, there is more retail lease property being built.

There is, in fact, a city building permit for an undisclosed restaurant possibly coming at 1104 state Highway 76, with a permitted construction value of $690,000. Rumors are flying about it, but I'm told it's not officially a done deal.

This is a conceptual illustration of what the old Kmart makeover might look like.(Photo: Contributed)

And then the icing on top of it all is perhaps the makeover of the old Kmart shopping center at Madison Street near the Connector.

What an eyesore that corner has become, but that could be about to change, finally.

The Clarksville-Montgomery County Industrial Development Board has OK'd a payment-in-lieu-of-tax (PILOT) agreement for remodeling the old Kmart retail property, which grants Chattanooga development firm Rise Partners an annually graduated property tax break.

Matt Phillips, founding partner for the development firm, shared details of the highly anticipated project with the IDB a few weeks back. He had previously addressed the Clarksville City Council about it.

The entire former Kmart building, an 85,000-square-foot structure at 2300 Madison St., is expected to get a face-lift with a heightened roofline and is to be subdivided into five retail spaces.

Fronting the old Kmart is an abandoned fuel station that is to be demolished and replaced with an 8,000-square-foot building — probably a restaurant, Phillips says.

All of the retailers are expected to represent major national brands. They are currently undisclosed, as Phillips says negotiations continue.

Also on that old Kmart shopping center property, which collectively has been called Clarksville Commons, is the Food Lion grocery store, which Phillips said is planning a makeover of its own, and the outlot Wendy's restaurant, which also will remain.

The Kmart project represents a $12 million capital investment that, studies suggest, will generate an estimated $18.5 million in combined annual retail sales and close to $1.8 million in annual sales taxes.

All of the businesses in the project, combined, are expected to create 427 new jobs.

Officials say they expect to close on the deal in November. Demolition and construction could start next summer.

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Areas of Rossview Road in the unincorporated area of the county could become part of the community's designated Urban Growth Area soon.(Photo: Jimmy Settle/The Leaf-Chronicle)

Another Interstate 24 exit unaccustomed to retail also could be on the verge of taking off. Around the southern entrance to the Corporate Business Park and the site of the city's planned family athletic complex, there are visions of a potential hotel, another Clarksville Wendy's and a Mapco convenience store to join the Burger King already there.

Whether the roughly 600 acres there around Exit 8 and along Rossview Road are annexed into the city limits or not, there are expectations of the area being primed for retail largely because of the athletic complex's long-range plans.

Fort Campbell and major new industrial development are key factors in the impressive growth of the local retail sector. Numbers from the local real estate market suggest no slowdown in residential activity to support new retail pockets throughout Clarksville.

That still includes Exit 4, by the way, which continues to lead the city and could get another significant boost from the Northeast Connector road planned for a stretch between Trenton Road and Ted Crozier Sr. Boulevard. Associated with that project are expectations of a privately funded $30 million hotel and convention center in the area behind the Hampton Plaza (Kohl's) shopping center.

Jimmy Settle(Photo: File)

Looking at real estate, we find that in August, for example, there were 585 residential real estate closings in the Clarksville market, up sharply from 441 for the same month a year ago.

Average home prices at closing are approaching the $200,000 mark in the Clarksville area for the first time ever. A year ago the average at closing was $186,329.

For the year-to-date, there have been 3,726 residential closings in the Clarksville area, up from 3,188 for the same period a year ago. These numbers come courtesy of Todd Harvey and the Clarksville Regional Multiple Listing Service.

This local economy is poised for another burst of significant business development. There is an underlying feeling that some of the energy is on hold until we have all three of the elections of 2018 settled, and on Nov. 6 we'll finally have that clearer picture of who is going to be in charge going forward.

Reach Business Editor Jimmy Settle at 931-245-0247 and on Twitter @settle_leaf.